How One Man Successfully Entered the SAP HANA Platform Eco-System

Chris Carter was your quintessential geek in love with technology – the guy who brought a Commodore and an Apple IIe to college. He always had a penchant for learning new technologies and sharing them with others. Years later, this passion is still reflected in his ventures. Both his initial and current ventures are about helping businesses adopt emerging technologies.

Carter has been in the SAP eco-system for nearly 20 years and has a deep understanding of cloud computing and big data. For those of you who may not know what SAP HANA is, here is the definition from the SAP HANA website:

“SAP HANA is an in-memory data platform that is deployable as an on-premise appliance, or in the cloud. It is a revolutionary platform that’s best suited for performing real-time analytics, and developing and deploying real-time applications. At the core of this real-time data platform is the SAP HANA database which is fundamentally different than any other database engine in the market today.”

Seeing the need for a company that could provide cost effective, strategic solutions using the best of SAP, cloud and big data analytics, Carter founded Approyo in 2011. The video below explains the concept:

The company’s strategy is based on the platform eco-system trend that is becoming prevalent in the tech world. We have seen the success of this model with Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Salesforce’s Force.com. Using this strategy based on a platform and its eco-system, a large number of developers are able to build their businesses cost-effectively without the time-to-market disadvantages.

They support companies making their shift to the SAP HANA platform by developing ready to deploy and secure predictive analytics solutions. Carter says the distinct benefit that the HANA platform has over other big data technologies is that it gives you the ability to fit structured and unstructured data right into the system. Without the hassle of massive hardware deployment and huge costs. It also allows its customers to choose the pay-as-you-go model or a monthly subscription.

The company has been providing SAP HANA services for the past two years to customers in sectors like retail, oil & gas, manufacturing and healthcare where massive amounts of data is generated on a daily basis. SAP HANA is based on a columnar in-memory database that allows deep analysis while capturing fresh transactions in real time. These features have helped Approyo evolve into an advanced developer of vertical solutions with real domain insight in industry segments, such as energy management at hospital facilities.

The immense value that Approyo brings to the table can be gauged from this case. For a hospital that wanted to reduce indirect costs, it designed a solution that could reduce costs by 28%. It took into consideration various data sets – average energy costs, quarterly costs, patient days, housekeeping down to their cafeterias, maintenance and repairs – to understand the hospital’s workflow and impact on energy consumption cost. Carter says even little things like linen – the specific days when they are done or when deliveries are taken care of – provided useful insights and data for implementing a process change at the hospital.

They have also developed solutions for the Finance and Retail verticals. Based on its success with such vertical solutions, the company offers Ignite, a set of industry-specific templates that expedite the implementation of SAP HANA technology aligned with a company’s business strategy. What sets them apart from other SAP HANA resellers is that rather than just providing hosting services for SAP HANA, it helps companies develop a roadmap for implementing the SAP HANA technology. The company develops solutions using the data provided by various APIs to derive big data insights for better business outcomes and ROI.

Approyo targets the SAP eco-system which has over 74,000 customers and today has 23 resellers in 14 countries, above $1 million in revenue and is profitable. As only 1.6% of SAP customers are yet on the HANA platform, there is scope for them to tap further into this eco-system.

Sramana Mitra is the founder of One Million by One Million (1M/1M) initiative, a virtual incubator that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategist who writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy.

Subscribe

Advertisement

Apply for a Loan

Advertisement

About Small Business Trends

Founded in 2003, Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them. It is one of the most popular independent small business publications on the web.

Together with hundreds of expert contributors, Small Business Trends brings you the news, advice and resources you need. "Small business success... delivered daily."